


rubies and sapphires and fire and ice

by EllaYuki



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Clow Country, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fai's vampirism, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, KuroFai Week, Light Angst, M/M, Nightmares, Nihon Country, Non-Linear Narrative, POV Alternating, Post-Canon, Yama Country, random moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-06 02:00:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12807150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllaYuki/pseuds/EllaYuki
Summary: kurofai week 2017 - small moments in time.





	1. sweet

**Author's Note:**

> The lack of capital letters is INTENTIONAL. All fics written by me in 2017 are like that, so if that puts you off, I'm sorry and you are more than welcome to back out now. 
> 
> (AKA: Please STOP MENTIONING IT, it will NOT change. Thank you.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fai makes kurogane a sweet treat.

the sakuramochi looks harmless enough, if a little bit misshapen and little bit too big.

kurogane looks at it, then up at fai’s expectant little smile, and controls his impulse to snort. as if the damn mage doesn’t know he’s not really one for sweets. but he doesn’t say anything, just picks the thing from its little ornate plate and, with one more look in fai’s direction, he takes a bite. his eyebrows shoot up.

it’s… not as sweet as he expected it to be.

it’s surprising. fai usually makes everything so sickeningly tooth-aching, kurogane always has trouble with it, but this is actually good, the bean paste not as sweetened as it would normally be (even in a normal person’s hands).

he takes another bite, and then washes it down with a sip of sake.

‘it’s good,’ he says, casual, and fai’s smile grows, his eyes brightening in delight and pride.

‘i’m glad you like it, kuro-sama,’ he says, and takes a sip of his own sake.

kurogane takes a moment to just enjoy the warm breeze and the delicious taste and the precious company. he takes the last bite and bends over to place a small kiss to fai’s hair.

‘thank you,’ he says, nuzzling against the golden strands.

‘you are welcome, kuro-sama,’ fai answers on a soft, content sigh.


	2. battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in between his growing closeness to kurogane and his anxiety over staying too long in one place, for fai, the long months in yama are one constant battle, not only in a physical sense, but also in an emotional and mental one as well.

they only fight for the damn castle for three nights a month, every month, when the moon is at its fullest, and while kurogane had lifted an incredulous eyebrow at that at first, he’d eventually come to accept it.

fai on the other hand… _well_ , not so much. the weeks in between feel too long, and he becomes restless, and he almost gets overwhelmed by the urge to run more often than not. kurogane had had to grab his arm and forcefully keep him in place the first time ashura’s name was mentioned, and fai has to grit his teeth and make himself not jump every time he hears it, even after months in yasha’s camp.

the nights when they actually do battle are the easiest, for all that war has never been to his taste. it’s easy to let himself focus on his (not his, really, yasha’s) enemies, on the tip of his arrows and the trajectories and his surroundings.

it’s easier when he has a clear goal –defeat as many as possible, stay alive, watch kuro-sama’s back- because then he doesn’t have to watch over his shoulder to make sure his king doesn’t suddenly appear, or worse, fei-wang’s agents.

a month passes, then two, four, and on the fifth, he’s all but given up on the idea that mokona on the children might have landed somewhere in this world as well. he thinks that maybe that’s a good thing, maybe if they’re away from him, they won’t be affected by his misfortune, maybe they’ll be alright.

then there’s his… relationship with kurogane (if he can even call it that, though he supposes, in a way he can).

the man is even more stubborn, where fai is concerned, and more frustrating, trying to make him learn bits and pieces of his language (and even that is its own type of battle), sticking closer to fai than he normally would have, both in the long days between one full moon and the next, and on the battlefield.

fai can’t really understand him (though what else is new on that front?), but he’s nothing if not a quick learner and, although he can’t speak out loud (not without giving himself away), he has come to understand words and phrases of this world’s language (and apparently kurogane’s too, more or less).

so, side by side, armed with bow and sword, hey fight, and rise in ranks. and slowly, the trust between them grows, as well, and fai doesn’t realize it at first, but one night, they’ve split apart, and he’s surrounded by ashura’s men, and his arrows aren’t enough. and he _knows_.

he quickly assesses the situation, knows that he can try to get through them by himself, pick up a sword or a lance from the many fallen. (he could have even used a tiny bit of his magic… well, that is, if his eyes hadn’t inexplicably changed color, sealing his powers -and oh, that had been a _horrible_ shock to the system- and in this chaos, no one would even notice.)

he doesn’t.

instead, he locates kurogane, far enough that he wouldn’t hear fai should he yell or whistle, so he decides to do the next best thing to a attract the man’s attention.

carefully, he notches one of his last arrows and aims. he needs to be precise, and ne needs to be quick. he takes a deep breath.

the arrow embeds itself neatly in the eye of the soldier kurogane’s crossing swords with and immediately, he falls off his mount. kurogane’s head snaps in his direction, annoyed yells on the tip of his tongue until he sees that fai is surrounded. his scowl deepens.

and well, fai isn’t surrounded for long after that.

there’s a moment’s respite in which fai pushes his hair out of his eyes, panting hard as he checks his arrows -two left- and the state of the spear he’d nicked from one of the soldier before discarding it as a lost cause.

he turns to kurogane, thankful smile on his lips. he knew he could count on kuro-sama to assist him. kurogane just huffs and rolls his eyes (and oh, how fai hates their black color), mumbles something of which fai can only catch ‘careful’ and ‘idiot’ and ‘sooner’ and the exasperated fondness of his tone. fai can’t help the breathless chuckle that leaves his throat at that. he casts his gaze around them.

‘thank you, kuro-sama,’ he whispers, careful, foreign words awkward on his tongue, just before the light that transports them back to yasha’s country envelops them.

he knows kurogane hears him.


	3. music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sometime after settling down in nihon, fai picks up playing the koto.

he doesn’t know where fai got his hands on one (though he suspects tomoyo had a hand in it, she always does), but there’s something gentle, almost dreamlike, about fai whenever his fingers pluck at the strings of an old koto, for all that he knows nothing about how such an instrument is played.

on the slow days between spring and summer, the castle wing that holds their rooms echos with the sounds of strings, random pieces, nothing the residents would recognize, and it gives the place an almost whimsical atmosphere.

some evenings, right before bed, fai plays a particular song. it’s one kurogane has heard him hum to himself throughout the years, usually when he’s feeling good or when he’s lost in thought.

he tried, once, to ask fai about it, while they were still traveling, but fai had just smiled, a sad little thing, full of ghosts and pain, and said it’s just something he vaguely remembers from his childhood. kurogane had not asked if he meant his childhood before the tower, or after his adoption. (he hasn’t asked about it again at all, in fact.)

fai is playing again tonight, humming along this time (which is rare).

he’s sitting out on the porch leading to their little garden, kurogane next to him, drinking a cup of sake. the evening air is warm, and rich with the scent of wisteria blossoms, the sky is full of stars, and there’s just something so tranquil about it all.

kurogane doesn’t think he’s ever felt so content before, so at peace.

he closes his eyes and lays down, making a pillow out of fai’s lap, for all that the position is awkward, squished as he is against the firm wood of the koto. he can hear fai’s fond little huff but he ignores it, preferring to let the melody of fai’s childhood wash over him.

‘i can’t play properly like this, kuro-sama,’ fay says, mock-scolding, and if kurogane had had his eyes open, he’d have rolled them at that, just as mockingly.

instead, he says, ‘it’s not like you’re playing it properly anyway, you idiot. you don’t play the koto with your bare fingers like that.’

fai runs a hand though kurogane’s hair for a moment before he returns it to the strings. ‘i like it better like this,’ he says, voice betraying his smile, and really, kurogane can’t argue with that.

‘it’s a good song,’ kurogane whispers, and lets sleep take him, and fai’s soft, barely audible, ‘yes, it is,’ follows him into his dreams.


	4. dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fai’s nightmares might never go away, but at least, they get easier to bear with kurogane’s help.

all his life, his dreams have always been of ice and snow, blood and guilt, and deep, despairing sadness, nothing more, nothing less. and as the years went on, things just kept piling up.

now, in the peaceful days of life at nihon’s court, the dreams come at a rarer pace and are less excruciating, though they more varied than ever.

now, the images of a mother and child being buried in snow, and the sound of his bother’s body falling to the floor of the valley, and ashura’s crazed golden eyes in a room full of corpses, are joined by the powerless feeling of being unable to protect his family from his insane, beloved king.

but the nightmares of old only leave him chilled to the bone and gasping, choking on the cloying anguish like they’ve always done, while the new ones, of a great icicle spearing kurogane like it’s nothing, and of kurogane’s unflinching sacrifice as the world closed in around them, those leave him trembling and crying and feeling lost like he’s never felt in his long, long life. lost, and then found, and he doesn’t know, for the first few second upon waking up, what is real and what is not.

kurogane, bless him, has learned to recognize the type of nightmare has plagued fai when he’s woken up, and knows exactly how to comfort him, from holding him tightly and carding his finger through his hair, to kissing him breathless until fai knows, understands that they are both here, and they are both real, and they are both alive.

they never go away. not really. there are still nights, even years, even decades later, when he wakes up screaming his throat raw, begging for his brother’s life, or for kurogane’s.

but fai slowly, oh so slowly, learns that he can live with them, that he can make peace with them just as he has made peace with his past, with the help of his kuro-sama’s warm kisses and warmer touch, his gentle support.

no, they never go away, but they do get easier to endure, so fai supposes (snuggling closer into kurogane’s calming embrace), that he can live with that.


	5. bad habits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fai bites his lip. and not necessarily in an enticing way.

fai is always quick to create bad habits, kurogane realizes at one point.

from the blank smiles he uses as masks whenever he feels the need to protect his vulnerabilities, to the damned nicknames (which, admittedly, kurogane has gotten used to and has come to prefer), and other tiny quirks that someone who doesn’t pay attention might not notice.

so he doesn’t think much of it at first when he notices fai biting and picking at his bottom lip.

sure, it’s distracting, occasionally at the most inconvenient of times, but it’s not something that kurogane thinks needs pointing out. some people bite their lips, others bite their nails or crack their fingers or gnash their teeth.  so yes, he lets it be.

and then one morning, there’s a trace of blood on fai’s pillow when kurogane wakes up. and if he had not heard fai humming to himself before he’d opened his eyes, kurogane would have gone on full alert at the sight.

he does tense up though.

‘oi,’ he calls to fai, and the humming stops.

‘hmm? oh, you’re awake. good morning, kuro-sama!’

he’s brushing his hair, blue yukata so pale it looks almost white in the morning light, and the smile on his lips is happy, if soft. there’s a thin red line just off center on his bottom lip, and kurogane zeroes in on it.

‘come here,’ he tells fai, and the mage raises a teasing eyebrow.

‘so early in the morning, kuro-rin?’ and really, even after so long, kurogane still feels like ringing his neck sometimes as much as he loves the man. he just huffs.

‘just. come here, you idiot.’

fai sets his down his comb and leaves his spot by the open doors to their little courtyard. when he sits on the bedding by kurogane, there’s a slightly puzzled look on his face. ‘well?’ he asks.

kurogane takes his chin in his hand, lifts it gently and pulls him closer for inspection.

yes, there’s a little bit of dried blood, from where fai’s obviously peeled a bit of skin off, and kurogane remembers him worrying at that place with his teeth the night before. he sighs.

‘i’m gonna talk to tomoyo about giving you some balm for that lip,’ he tells fai, making sure fai understands that this isn’t up for debate. ‘if you can’t stop messing with it, at least do something so that it won’t bleed all over the place.’

fai sucks his lip in between his teeth at that and kurogane wants to roll his eyes at him. but after a moments or two, he releases it, and the blood is gone, only a small, barely visible line in the soft, pink skin betraying its torn state.

‘thank you, kuro-sama.’ he leans closer, places a light, playful kiss to the corner of kurogane’s mouth, before standing up.

kurogane lets out a breath and does the same.


	6. nsfw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the first time, it happens in the country of yama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took FOREVER to write. I'm severely out of practice with nsfw stuff, ugh...

the first time it happens (the first and only time for a very, very long time), it’s when they’ve been in yama for almost six months.

they’re both becoming more and more restless with each passing day without any sign of the children or mokona, with each morning waking up and still not perfectly understanding the words coming from the other’s mouth.

for fai, it’s even worse. he needs to continue traveling, he needs to not be in one place for too long, and he’s worried about the others, and he needs to not be stuck with only kurogane for a companion because fai is painfully aware that any more of this and it’s going to go one of only two possible ways. the added stress over the fact that he can’t feel his magic anymore doesn’t help either.

tension runs higher and thicker with every battle they enter for king yasha, and this particular evening, the fight feels harsher, more frenzied that is has until now.

fai doesn’t care, just fires his arrows, taking in every warrior on the battle field, paying as much attention as he can to every possible danger. kurogane is a few feet away, sword gleaming in the moonlight, cutting though the enemy like they’re made of soft butter (though, paradoxically, fai has noticed that the man never actually _outright kills_ , just maims and disables. he would tease kurogane if he could.)

he loses himself for a mere couple of seconds in ideas about how to make fun of kurogane when (if? when) they regain the ability to understand each other, and of course, of course, that’s the moment when he gets surrounded and overwhelmed.

kurogane yells at him for a solid hour when they get back to camp.

fai’s right arm is bleeding, as is his temple. his tailbone aches from where he fell off his mount (something that hasn’t happened to him in… he doesn’t even remember how many decades), and he would really, _really_ like to just sleep for a week.

they’re in their tent, kurogane aggressively dressing his wounds, angry (worried, fai is pretty sure) words falling like torrential rain from his lips.

fai tunes him out, it’s not like he can understand a word he’s saying anyway, and just, breathes, tries to relax his muscles, make his damned heart stop racing already.

he only notices kurogane has stopped talking when he feels more than hears the exasperated sigh the man releases. when he looks up at him, the look on kurogane’s face both sparks a frisson of scorching heat up fai’s spine and almost sends him into a panicked haze.

he swallows the sudden knot in his throat and licks his bottom lip.

‘kuro-sama…’ he whispers, almost pleading (and really, what is wrong with him?). kurogane looks down, lightning quick at his mouth, and something inside fai snaps.

he knows he shouldn’t. there are so many, many reason why he shouldn’t, first and foremost because they will eventually end up having to fight each other, probably kill each other, especially if kurogane will get in the way of fai’s accomplishing his goal.

it doesn’t matter, though. not in this moment, not in this place.

right now he just wants. right now he just needs.

so he grabs kurogane by the front of his bloodied shirt and pulls him in roughly, desperately.

the first kiss is everything and nothing like he thought it would be and fai feels lightheaded. there’s fire and electricity spreading through his every nerve ending, and the groans that fights its way up his throat is something he cannot help.

they don’t take it slow, they don’t waste time when they undress, and everything is a frenzied push and pull that makes it hard for either of them to breathe properly.

fai doesn’t know where the hell kurogane pulls the small bottle of oil from, nor does he really care, but almost keens when a slippery finger pushes inside him. it’s been too long, and it feels so, so good.

one finger, then two, then three, kurogane’s other hand and his mouth around fai’s cock, and the building pleasure becomes almost too much to bear. ‘kuro-sama,’ he calls out, pulling at kurogane’s hair. ‘kuro-sama, kuro-sama…’ he pulls harder, tries to get his attention, and eventually kurogane throws him a glance that almost has fai coming on the spot.

almost.

with a pained groan, fai manages to pull kurogane up and over him, drags him back in for a deep kiss. he can taste himself, just a bit, on kurogane’s tongue and the very thought is almost dizzying. 

when kurogane finally _(finally!)_ pushes inside him, slow, careful, fai thinks he’s never felt so warm in his entire life.

for the space of a few heartbeats, they stay still, breathe each other in.

and then they move, set a rhythm that has them both groaning and panting, and there are stars bursting behind fai’s eyelids.

a part of him wants (aches) to open his eyes, see crimson eyes burning down on him. he can’t, so he ignores it, mourns it, delights in it. it makes the moment all the more dreamlike, for some reason.

by the time their movements turn frantic, erratic, fai has wrapped his legs so tightly around kurogane’s hips, he’s sure the man will have bruises for days, and he’s sure there are red, angry welts all over kurogane’s back. he wants to leave more.

when he comes, he does so with kurogane’s teeth biting down on the crook of his neck, and kurogane follows him over the edge almost immediately.

they lie there after, quiet, still trembling with afterglow, and kurogane runs his fingers through fai’s hair, lightly, lazily. fai wishes, for the briefest moment, that they could stay like this.

but soon enough, the reality of the situation starts to creep in, slowly.

again, he decides to ignore it, if only for a little while longer.

kurogane murmurs something into the skin of his collarbone and fai wishes he could understand him, just this once.

~

two nights later, in a moment that leaves him thoroughly disoriented, the world, the ruckus around him, starts making sense again, and he knows that their brief respite in this world of nighttime wars is over.

and so, he decides to encase the memory of that night, of heat and ardent passion and drowning kisses, in a crystal that he hides and locks away with the most precious of those in his long life.

the journey is still continuing, his goal, his wish is still unfulfilled, and he and kurogane are still pawns of opposing forces.

he takes a deep breath and exchanges a knowing look with kurogane.

the bite mark on his neck still burns and aches.


	7. 100

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fai calls him ‘kurogane’ for a hundred awful days.

it’s a hundred days, by kurogane’s count. (not that he’ll ever admit to actually counting.) more or less a hundred days of cold shoulders and dry snark and  _‘kurogane’_.

he hates it.

he never thought he’d come to hate his own name, hate hearing someone use it, but in those hundred days, he does. oh how he does. the mocking, disdainful tone that always accompanies it is even more annoying.

it’s jarring.

a hundred days and a hundred nights and a hundred long infinities, after months and months  _and months_  of ‘kurorin’s and ‘kuro-chan’s and ‘puppy’s and ‘father’s and ‘kuro-sama’.

he misses ‘kuro-sama’ the most.

(not that he’ll ever tell anyone. obviously.)

the princess and her secrets aren’t helping, the kid… the  _new_ kid has his own crap-load of problems to deal with, and the white bun… well, she’s the only comfort in the gloom that falls over their group in tokyo and follows them all through to celes.

and the mage is just…

kurogane wants to wring his damn neck, and take him by the shoulders and shake him till he stops being an idiot, and lock them both in a room and just…

(he refuses to think about that one night in yama, and the way it changed  _nothing_ , and the way it makes everything even more difficult to stomach now.)

‘you should drink,’ he reminds fai day after day.

‘i’m not really hungry,’ fai answers, day after day.

‘i don’t really care.’  _you will drink and you will live and we will get through this eventually,_  he doesn’t say.

a hundred days, give or take.

and then, with a punch and a smirk and a teasing ‘kuro-sama’ (and blood and loss and sacrifice and  _blood_ , so, so much damn blood), everything is right again.

or.

no.

everything is  _better_. so much better.


	8. free day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fai wakes up in clow after the battle with fei wang reed and realises that yuuko was not entirely right about something.

he doesn’t think too much about it in the moment.

the pain of heartbreak is so unbearable already, and they’re still in the middle of a battle for the fate of the universes, and everything, everything already hurts _so damn much_ , that of course doesn’t think about it.

he doesn’t, until after things have finally calmed down and clow country has been restored to its normal flow and he wakes up with a parched throat and the sound of kurogane’s calm pulse ringing in his ears from across the room.

 _so the witch was wrong_ , he thinks to himself, and he’s not sure how to feel about that.

he should have known something was off from the start, seeing as the only thing he felt in the moment was his returned magic flowing through his veins and his eye being restored, but with the situation being such as it was… well, he can’t be blamed, he guesses.

still.

he’s hungry, and he craves blood.

he looks at kurogane, sleeping peacefully on a cot across the room, and wonders how the ninja will take the news. not well, fai assumes, but then again, kurogane took on the responsibility of being fai’s bait not caring about whether it was for mere days or months or for the rest of their lives. maybe it won’t make a difference to him.

he sits up, as quietly as he can, and walks up to kurogane’s bed. sits down on the edge and trails gentle fingers over kurogane’s wrapped shoulder. the metal arm is gone, too damaged in the battle and already ill-fitting besides. fai thinks about what he can give now for a replacement, one that will be good.

kurogane lets out a mumbled breath in his sleep, a small frown creasing the skin between his brows, and fai cards his fingers through the hair on his forehead to soothe him. if there is one thing this mad, wonderful man deserves, fai thinks, it is for his sleep to be restful.

he leans over kurogane, places soft, grateful kisses to his brow and his eyes and his cheeks and his mouth, and he whispers prayers of protection. if he could, he’d never have him shed a single drop of blood ever again. he knows it is a foolish, wistful thought, but he can’t help it.

‘i’d ask what the hell do you think you’re doing so damn early in the day, but i can’t say i actually mind being woken up like this.’

fai startles at kurogane’s sleepy words. he looks down at him, their eyes meeting, and for a moment, he’s reminded of a night, what feels like a lifetime ago, in a country of moonlight and war. everything is different than it was then, and yet.

he smiles, leans down and kisses kurogane soft and slow.

‘your eyes are weird,’ kurogane tells him when they part, and fai startles again. he frowns.

‘weird, kuro-sama?’

‘yeah.’ he raises a hand and brushes fai’s hair out of his face. ‘this one’s blue,’ he says, trailing the back of his fingers under fai’s left eye, and then he moves them under his right. ‘this one’s gold, like until the other day. they weren’t like that last night.’

and it’s a curious thing, because fai doesn’t feel any different than last night, doesn’t feel any different than two days ago, and his magic is back, and to its full strength.

he writes a rune into the air in front of him and a shiny piece of ice appears. he takes it in his hand and looks at himself in its reflection. yes, his eyes are different.

‘i’m hungry,’ he hears himself say before he even realizes he’s opened his mouth. ‘kuro-sama, i’m _hungry_.’ he looks back down at kurogane, and sees the man’s eyebrows shoot up.

‘i thought,’ he starts, ‘didn’t that witch say it would be reversed if you got your eye back?’ he sits up, slowly. fai helps him. 

‘maybe… maybe it’s because i didn’t have any left when it was restored. i’d used to much in celes, and then i used the rest as payment… maybe the vampirism hasn’t been thoroughly reversed because of that.’ he looks down, at where his hands are in his lap, picking at the sleeves of his sleeping shirt. ‘i don’t know.’ he pauses for the length of a breath. ‘i didn’t feel anything changing when we were inside the ruins but i didn’t pay attention because of things being as they were at the time. i didn’t realize.’

there’s a long pause, neither of them breaking the solemn silence for a few minutes. then, kurogane sighs, and scratches at the back of his head.

‘well,’ he says, ‘not like it makes much of difference either way.’

fai looks up at him at that, incredulous, but he doesn’t manage to say anything before kurogane speaks up again, extending his neck to fai. ‘well? you said you were hungry, right? so eat.’ his tone is the usual no-nonsense one, but at the same time, it’s warm. fai sighs and shakes his head. he smiles. oh, how he loves this impossible man.

‘you really are something, aren’t you, kuro-sama.’

kurogane just humphs, and fai extends a finger, claw elongating, and makes sure not a single (precious, beloved) drop is wasted.


End file.
